Author Archives: A N N A

A Legend is laid to rest.

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Weep

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan’s funeral took place on Wednesday, at a family burial plot in Moolakudu, Tamil Nadu.

The BBC’s Sunil Raman says the police decided not to bury Veerappan in his native village in neighbouring Karnataka state fearing trouble from the large crowds that had gathered there.
“We have been orphaned,” cried the bandit’s wife, Muthulakshmi, as she clung to her teenage daughters Prabha and Vidya Rani at the funeral.

The following sentence made me pause, and wonder if something similar would’ve occurred in this country. Though the gesture was touching, I think not:

The bandit’s elder brother was allowed out from a life term in jail for aiding Veerappan to attend the rites. He laid a garland as he was closely guarded by police.

I’m also insanely curious about why he was buried vs cremated. Would anyone more knowledgeable care to edify a girl who gets curious about the most pointless things? If so, please leave a comment. 🙂

Though some professed relief about the bandit’s demise, others experienced an opposite set of emotions; said Ravi, a man who went to view Veerappan’s body before its burial,

“God will punish those policemen. Veerappan was a good man and he helped the poor,” he told the BBC.

You can’t please everyone

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Veerappan Manish already posted about the assassination of notorious bandit Veerappan, but I thought I’d follow up by telling SM readers about this article from the BBC, which discusses how a “leading” South Indian human rights group is unhappy with the tactics employed in exterminating the dacoit.

…the killing could have been avoided, according to the human rights group, People’s Watch.
Its head, Henry Tiphagne, asked in an interview with the BBC Tamil Service: “Why could the 100 armed police officers who surrounded Veerappan not have forced him to surrender or simply wounded him?”
Veerappan had many times told journalists how he had bribed police and politicians, and had made clear he would give details if he was ever tried.
Mr Tiphagne said, with Veerappan’s death, the allegations of his links to leading figures in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka could not be examined.

After gazing at that picture, what I want to know is, what happened to his meesha (moustache)? Am I looking at an insult added to (final) injury?

a perv and his paneer

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Wacko Jacko is hiring a very special personal chef when he visits London in November; Kenyan-born Raj Bajwe is the talented man behind Cafe India, Britain’s best Indian restaurant.

Reports say that Raj, manager of Glasgow’s award-winning Cafe India, will prepare Jackson’s favourite vegetarian dishes including ‘Saag Paneer’, ‘Allo Golu’, ‘pakora’, fried rice dishes, ‘chapatis’ and ‘naan’ breads.
Raj told the media: “I know Michael is facing serious charges but I can only judge the man as I find him. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
“He loves his Indian food, particularly the way we do it in Scotland. Michael doesn’t drink and washes the meal down with iced water.
“His favourite Indian dish is ‘Saag Paneer’, which is spinach cooked through with cheese. He just loves that. He also likes ‘Allo Golu’, which is a spicy potato dish.

Bajwe has cooked for other bold-faced names, including the Governator of my home state:

Cafe India’s other celebrity customers include Sir Sean Connery, Hugh Grant, Keanu Reeves, Diana Ross, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rod Stewart, Billy Connolly, Lionel Richie and Emma Thompson.

Girl for sale, cheap.

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Sick, sick, sickening:

Driven by acute poverty, a mother in Orissa sold her 20-day-old daughter to a neighbour for Rs 600 (about $13), media reports in Bhubaneswar said on Friday.
Kusum Majhi, 27, of Palisipada village in Kalahandi district, hit by drought and famine several times over the past decade, sold her second child to Dhanu Naik, a middle-aged labourer on Thursday, the Oriya daily Samaja reported.
…Kusum and her mother Sebati, 60, searched for a buyer in the village over the past few days, and Dhanu Naik showed interest in buying the child for Rs 600, the newspaper said.
…The sale of the baby was formally executed on Thursday in the presence of several other villagers, with Naik and Kusum submitting a document to the village council to avoid “future legal complications”, the report said.

How is this POSSIBLY legal?? 🙁

Happy Curry Week!

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I’ve always hated korma; I’m not sure what that says about me, but the next time I order Aloo Vindaloo at Gaylord’s Ghirardelli, I’m going to smirk as I think of this survey from England:

One fifth of men questioned for Sky digital and Star Plus’ National Curry Week (October 17 – 24) survey said, they had eaten a vindaloo curry to impress a lady or their friends! When it comes to impressing friends or members of the opposite sex Lancashire has the toughest taste buds with over 20 per cent who have braved a vindaloo in the face of peer pressure. Whilst those in Newcastle seem to have the puniest palette and are least likely (7 per cent) to indulge in hot and spicy dishes to win over friends and lovers!
Women seem to be tongue-challenged when it comes to vindaloos. The findings show four in 10 men like their curries hot or extremely hot compared to only one in 10 women. Two-thirds (62 per cent) of women questioned admit they like mild curries, such as a korma.
Star Plus’ spokeswoman, Suruchi Sthalekar said: “The results are hilarious, I can just imagine the scenes in curry houses and homes across the UK. To think men measure their sexual prowess against the spiciness of their curry. And I would urge all woman to go out there and try vindaloo today to prove we can handle it.”

Handle it? I consummately require it. 😉

“After all, what is sexier than someone who exudes both passion and compassion?”

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As a life-long vegetarian, I’m thrilled to learn that for the third year in a row, Amitabh is India’s hottest herbivore, according to your favourite animal rights outfit:

The veggie voters have spoken, and it is official – the Big B is again the Big V, and breaking the Bollywood monopoly, Clueless star Alicia Silverstone has won PETA India’s Hottest Vegetarian Alive Contest for 2004. More than 50,000 Web surfers cast their votes this year.
This year, the contest was even hotter, with vegetarians like Shahid Kapoor, Pamela Anderson, Pierce Brosnan, Yana Gupta, Avril Lavigne, Mandira Bedi, Tobey Maguire, Shania Twain and Esha Deol as nominees.
Celebrities cite many reasons for forgoing flesh foods, from avoiding the cruelty to animals that is inherent in meat production to improving their health and energy levels to helping the environment by not contributing to hog- and chicken-farm pollution.

Amitabh is just one of many stars who probably taste better. Upon perusing the list of esteemed nominees, I was surprised to find that “Lord of the Rings” star and blazing-ball-of-awesome-hotness Orlando Bloom is also an herbivore. As if he wasn’t fantastic enough already. Stothrum!

Sadly, Mutineer Manish wasn’t nominated, or he would’ve surely killed Big B’s shot at a three-peat. 😉

H1-B Visa- It takes you everywhere you want to be

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Want an H1-B visa? If you applied by Friday, October 1 of this year, you might have a shot. If you didn’t, well, best of luck next year.

Congress set a cap of 65,000 such visas per fiscal year. By the end the work day Friday, Citizenship and Immigration Services already had received enough applications to meet the limit.
Agency spokesman William Strassberger said applications filed by Friday will be considered. For any after that, “It’s too late,” he said.

In this age of Outsourcing, Congress is predictably wary about raising that figure even though “those that use the program say they can’t find enough Americans with the necessary math, science and engineering skills.”

The “65,000” figure is a bit misleading, since 6,800 visas are already reserved for workers from Chile and Singapore, thanks to free trade agreements the U.S. has with those nations.

A few Republicans in Congress are trying to introduce legislation that could be construed as favourable to South Asians:

Employers hope to get relief from a proposal being pushed by Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. They are proposing that foreign students graduating from master’s or doctoral programs at U.S. universities not be counted against the H1-B limit. Such students often are recruited by U.S. businesses and could end up working for global competitors when H1-B visas are unavailable.
It is unclear whether Congress will consider the proposal before adjourning.

vegetarians rule, y’all

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Fauja Singh–the astonishing nonagenarian athlete and all-around bad-ass who was in an adidas ad–will be starring in another commercial, an ad for PETA:

The ad shows a runner in mid-stride, training for his next marathon, and reading, “Fauja Singh: Age 93/Champion International Marathon Runner/Father of Six/Grandfather of 13… Vegetarian”.
Singh will be competing at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon September 26.
Singh rediscovered his passion for distance running at the age of 81 and even now shows no signs of slowing down. He has joined forces with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to caution Asians and others about the perils they face if they clog their arteries with meat.

singh has received well-deserved accolades for his accomplishments:

…Singh, who finished ahead of his age group at the New York Marathon last year, was honoured with the Ellis Island of Honour for his feat. He is the only non-American to be so honoured in the history of the prestigious award.
Apart from congressional awards, the Ellis Island Medals of Honour are the only awards recognised by Congress.

what was that about old indian men with superpowers, abhi? 😉

funny girl

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i first heard about controversy-courting comedienne shazia mirza a few years ago, but i wasn’t really a fan of her signature “pilot’s license” joke– i just didn’t think it was THAT funny– so i wasn’t sure that i’d dig her comedic stylings. that might be why i waited to read an interview with her until now:

You used to wear a burqa. Why did you stop?
The reason you’re meant to wear it is because men are meant to be sexually attracted by hair. But I’ve tried, it doesn’t work! (laughs) And I thought, men are the weak ones, yeah? They should be wearing the burqas, they should be locked up in the house, and women should be out. Why is it that those guys who can’t control themselves are let out, and we’re the ones that have to wear the burqas? You can be a perfectly good Muslim without wearing it. You know, it’s not what you wear on your head, it’s what you do with your life.

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jesus is buried where?

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i wish this very odd story was in more places than the moonie news, aka the washington times:

New Delhi, India, Sep. 12 (UPI) — Israeli citizens were flocking to the Indian cities of Jammu and Kashmir Sunday to see the graves believed to be those of Jesus Christ and Moses.
…A section of the local population believes Kashmiris are one of the lost tribes of Israel. Aziz Kashmiri, the author of the book Christ in Kashmir, insists that the Kashmiri people’s ancestors were one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel and that Jesus died during a visit to the Valley.

those lost tribes of israel turn up everywhere.